


the force that guides the stars guides you too

by Lunaris_Chrysalis



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Damerey Endgame, Drama & Romance, F/M, Happy Ending, Marriage, TFA retelling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-25
Updated: 2018-08-25
Packaged: 2019-07-02 07:57:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15792330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunaris_Chrysalis/pseuds/Lunaris_Chrysalis
Summary: Poe Dameron searches for Luke Skywalker and his wife Rey who escaped a close call from the First Order and have apparently become stranded in the location of the first Jedi temple, which, by all accounts, no one has the coordinates to.





	the force that guides the stars guides you too

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from a quote that I came across on my tumblr dash, and I thought it’d make a nice fic title even though I had no story idea for it yet. This fic had been in the works and had a working title, but I found that this title matched this fic idea. So there. 
> 
> Sorry in advance, because I’m making shizz up about the Force and space ship mechanics.
> 
> WARNING: Poe's interrogation by Kylo Ren is featured briefly.
> 
> I would just like to clarify their ages here. So, backstory (which I will flesh out in a one-shot prequel). Luke finds Rey not long after the massacre at the Jedi temple, when she's 19. Around that time, Poe is 26, which is his actual age in canon when the massacre happens. But Poe and Rey meet later on, 2 years after Luke takes Rey as his apprentice. So at the start of this fic, Rey is 22 and Poe is 29.

“Come back to me, flyboy,” Were the last words he got from her before he left for a quick mission.

“Faster than hyperspeed,” He replied with a grin before kissing her deeply before he made his way to Black One.

Poe had been assigned a five-day mission on gathering ammunition and food supplies for the Resistance. 

This was just a normal run, routine in its classification; it was no espionage mission that truly entailed danger. But on the day he and Snap were scheduled to return, Poe was overwhelmed with a gut feeling of fear.

Though the sensation came deep within his core, Poe recognized this as not his own, which meant…

 _What’s wrong, Rey?_ Poe’s thoughts raced with dread; the preternatural bond he shared with his wife, one of the last two Jedi in existence, alerted him to an omen.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
_Jedi are forbidden to form attachment_ , Luke had warned his apprentice. But the tale of a Jedi prohibited to love had been a tragedy that bound the entire galaxy in subjugation to the oppression of the Dark Side and ushered the end of the Republic. History could only offer a grim reminder of the possible and probable consequence if Luke were to insist on separation. 

When Rey and Poe had met, their Force signatures were… peculiar, to say the least. Luke could not describe it. He had never registered anything like that: Rey’s and Poe’s signatures blended with each other; not identical, but rather, complimentary, as if they were familiar with each other. In the same way that two leaves from the same tree are individual, and yet alike; much like two threads twined together to form a strong rope.

But not even relatives had that kind of Force signature. 

Had it been an effect of living in proximity of a Force Tree? Luke had no answers.

The mystery of Rey’s and Poe’s interlinked Force signatures remains unexplained, an aberrant phenomenon that, while not ominous (it was rather something endearing, warm), was still a matter of curiosity to Luke.

So when the Force sent Luke a vision of its blessing of the union between the Resistance pilot and the Jedi apprentice, how could he oppose? He was but an instrument of the Force, and if the Force wills it, then so he must comply. The Force had plans for them that Luke could not foresee, could not even fathom, even if it went against the grain of the ancient Jedi dogma.

Leia ordained the marriage ceremony on Yavin IV, in the presence of the Force Tree in the backyard of the humble Dameron estate with only a handful of the bride and groom’s nearest and dearest. How the Force sang so sweetly that day; when Poe finally slipped his mother’s ring to find its permanent place on Rey’s finger, it was as if two rivers had finally found the ocean to merge as one; their essence were now akin to interwoven strands that formed a tapestry in the Force, foretelling a promising destiny of light and hope for the galaxy.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
“It’s no use,” Frustration colored the tenor of Rey’s exasperated tone as she threw the wrench on the grass. “There must be… something!” She sputtered, unable to conjure any solution.

The Jedi master only raises a brow in response. Rey’s difficult past of scavenging in Jakku had given her an unorthodox mastery in being a mechanic, but Luke also grew up tinkering with parts and machinery back in Tattoine. He’s also taken a look at their ship; there’s nothing they can do to get that can get it working to launch and get them through the vast expanse of the galaxy. “It’s not within our power anymore to be able to leave this place.”

“Then how are we ever going to get back to base?”

He gave a long sigh. “It’s all up to them,” Them: Leia and Poe and the Resistance. “By the will of the Force.”

So then, their escape lay in uncertain terms. They could do nothing to help their situation. Panic slowly building, Rey covered her face to control her emotions, regulating her breathing to calm the swirling strong emotions. 

“Something is on your mind, padawan,” Luke observed. “Remember balance.”

Rey wondered if her teacher already knew, but wanted to hear a verbal confirmation from her. This was not what she and Poe had agreed on, but with her current circumstances, she had no choice. “Master Luke, I have something to tell you…”  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
“They’re not dead!” Poe shouts, and the loud bang of his fist on the table made everyone—all the top brass of the Resistance present for that meeting—in the room except Leia jump or flinch. The silence that follows is in waves of sympathy, and Poe shakily gets a grip on his emotions. He sits back down and shakily runs a hand through his dark curls. “I’d have felt it if Rey…”

His hands are trembling when he brings his clasped hands to his lips before pressing it against his forehead, as if in supplication to the Force.

“No one is saying they are,” Leia looks at him, and he knows it is with the understanding of one who is also Force Sensitive.

Briefly, Leia’s hand rests on his forearm and the gentle squeeze she offered calms his nerves, enough for him to look up to her. The General stands up in a regal height and addresses everyone in the whole room. “Luke and Rey are not dead. They’re lost.”

Poe nods. “They’re stranded, and we need to find them.”

“But how do we do that?” Admiral Ackbar looks to General Organa. “How do we find them with no leads, no tracking device, no ship tracks, no communication system—“ He shut his mouth when Leia regarded him with a pointed look.

“Even without the Jedi, operations continue as is. The Force has plans for them and they will return in due time. The important thing is, the First Order was not able to capture them, or get to them from wherever they’ve escaped to.” 

“So what do we do?” Admiral Ackbar seemed to be the only one gutsy enough to ask the question on everyone’s mind. Given the longstanding history he had with the princess, perhaps he was the right person to ask. “We don’t even know where to start.”

“We will do what we can to locate them, but it will not be a priority,” Leia held herself firmly even when whispers of confusion ran through the gathered rebels.

General Statura’s voice rose over the din, incredulous and disbelieving as he was by the decision. “We should be concentrating our efforts and resources right now to track them down—”

“We cannot exhaust limited resources into this matter. The Force will help to lead us to them at the right time. The only plausible course of action right now is to get an investigation going to try to retrace their steps, and work from there,” Leia’s hardened features brooked no argument, and though it seemed that a handful disagreed, they could not come up with a more effective solution. “The Rebellion flourished before my brother ever joined. The Resistance will do so now as well in Luke and Rey’s absence. Are we all clear on that?”

Each and every one looked around at each other, wondering if someone had come up with something better than what Leia had in mind. When none raised any objections, Admiral Ackbar was the first to voice his consent, and the rest followed.

“General, I will lead the investigation team.” Poe declared with finality as he stood. 

“There will be no team.” With all the protestations of the other Resistance top brass, one would think there would be a mutiny against Leia Organa. Poe sputtered his objections the loudest, but Leia only held up her hand for silence. “Settle down!”

That got everyone to shut up, even Poe, who was red in the face and clearly disapproving.

“As I said, Poe, there will be no team, because only you will be assigned to this investigation.”

All the others looked to each other 

“When you come up with the leads, and you require a bigger team, then we’ll assign others. But for now, you’re the only one I trust enough on this case. Are we all clear on that?”

There really was no better action to take; the Resistance wasn’t as well funded and supported as the Rebellion back then, and if they wanted to keep operations going, they couldn’t afford any largescale expenditure on missions that weren’t as immediate in need and nature. They all nodded their consent to the decision. With the matter firmly resolved for now, everyone filed out to get back to their duties as the meeting was adjourned.

“Poe, come with me for debriefing.” Leia left the control room with Poe following after her. He was surprised that Leia led her to her personal chamber and locked the door behind them, securing privacy and confidentiality.

Before Poe could open his mouth to question, Leia went straight to the point. “Poe, you’re the only one I can trust to go find them and bring them home. We can’t risk anymore spies, if there is still one within us.”

They couldn’t be sure that all 800 members of their fledgling organization were loyal, when an informant had been confirmed before. He stood up a little straighter, glad they were on the same page. “I’d go rogue if you don’t assign me.”

“As I said, there will be no team, only you. Well, you and BB-8,” The grim look on Leia’s eyes did not uplift Poe. “The truth is, Luke and Rey were on a highly classified mission to look for the very first Jedi temple and the ancient texts of the Jedi. Besides the two of them, only Han and I know about their mission, and that’s all we know. The last I heard before they went off grid is that they’d gotten a solid lead on its location, and they were going to run a quick ocular, report confirmation, and then come back and finally share the full details.” A weary sigh followed. “But nothing more about their destination.”

A few terse seconds pass for Poe to completely comprehend Leia’s revelation. “Are you telling me… they found the location of a mythical place?”

“Only Luke and Rey knew details about the coordinates. Han and I weren’t privy to even the system it was located. We also didn’t even know where they got their leads. All we know is that Luke told us they’d found the exact coordinates, and they were heading out there to see if the information they’d gotten was legitimate.”

The less people who knew, the better to protect the secret. During that time, they knew there was a mole within them, Poe should know since some of Black Squadron’s missions had been sabotaged. Luke and Rey were right in keeping the information to themselves, even when Oddy Murva had already been discovered. They couldn’t be too careful and too sure.

“You have something you want to tell me, Commander.” It is not a question; Leia gave voice to the unspoken sentiment lodged in Poe’s throat. It must be important if the Force is niggling at her intuition, which was why she pushed. 

“I do have some classified information I need to disclose, but only to you.” Poe looked on gravely; he and Rey had sworn to secrecy until such time when they were ready to share the news. “Rey’s pregnant.” 

Leia turned around wordlessly, giving her attention once more to her most trusted pilot. His head is bowed low, his jaw clenched as his fingers twiddle with the wedding ring on his left hand. “We only found out two weeks ago, and we were supposed to announce it after the first trimester.”

So much at stake. Leia approached Poe to place a firm hand on his forearm, with a gentle squeeze; it the only thing she can offer. “Wherever they are, take comfort in the fact that they’re safe from the First Order. We can be grateful to the Force for that.”  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
Unless they can acquire the parts they need to replace those that were irreparable in their ship, Rey doesn’t see how they can get back home. Ahch-To does not have such existing machinery within its realm; the inhabitants have preserved a culture free from technology. Not even electricity is utilized here. 

The ship is submerged underwater. The ship was designed to withstand blaster and cannon fire, hyperspace travel, and vacuum. But water, not so much. The communication channels had also been fried beyond restoration during their escape from the First Order. No tinkering could salvage the ship. They needed replacement parts, which was unavailable in their current locale. They also did not have the transportation to go to any nearby planet or system where the parts they need might be available.

The only reason (a miracle, really, because they had been doomed, and Rey remembered the very real fear she felt of the certainty of death, and she’d thought, _What’s going to happen to Poe, I need to protect our baby_ ) they were able to still escape was because of Luke’s last-minute massive channeling of the Force, propelling their ship through the galaxy more effectively than hyperspace by visualizing the coordinates and emergency crashlanding their shuttle on water. The godlike effort almost killed Luke.

“So we’re pretty much stuck here until they find us?” Rey swallows down the apprehension building in her.

Luke takes a deep breath and nods knowingly, looking out at the vastness of the sea and the horizon before them. He can’t move his legs yet, though he can feel them, and every part of his aged body hurts; he’s temporarily invalid until he heals. Thankfully, the Jedi Texts have a small section detailing Force healing, and this newfound knowledge has Luke healing faster than normal by communing with the Force Tree and seeping the Force from it to aid his recuperation. “We will not wait in vain. We will use this time to further study the ancient Jedi texts and see what we can discern from the Force Tree and the Temple.”

Being stranded on an unknown place in the Galaxy is better than being held captive by the First Order. Rey’s hand rests on her navel.

“The Force will guide them to us in the right time, when we have fulfilled all that we are meant to fulfill here.” 

It’s been a month since they’ve arrived on Ach-To. Luke slowly gets better while Rey slowly grows desperate. It feels like the waiting for her parents on Jakku. Counting the days they’ve been apart rather than counting down to the day they’ll be reunited.

“In the meantime, my young padawan, we will continue your training.” Her teacher’s voice is distant as Rey continues to stare beyond the sky, wondering and worrying about her husband.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
Lead after lead; Poe feels like he’s chasing phantoms and crashing into walls.

The Force is strong with him, Luke once said; his bouts of luck and the attunement of his intuition could be attributed to the affinity he had with the Force. Poe wondered where the Force was now, and why it was misleading him time and time again. He felt abandoned by the so-called Force, as if he had suddenly run out of favor with it. Each month that passed in his fruitless search made him more bitter and disillusioned.

BB-8 is the only one who knows how many times his master cries in the privacy of his quarters, which he had once shared with another. The absence of his mistress and his master’s desolation is enough to make BB-8 consider switching to low power mode for a prolonged period and starting back up only when Mistress Rey is finally back. But then, BB-8 remembers that Master Poe will be lonelier still, with one less companion, and BB-8 can’t bear the thought of causing Master Poe more pain.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
_Don’t lose hope_ , Rey whispered in the vacuous distance between her and Poe.

The crash of the waves on rock was dulled in Rey’s ears. Her meditation was interrupted, however, by a little movement. Rey opened her eyes and laid a hand on her swollen belly, smiling as she felt the baby’s force reach out to her.

Her hands roamed the slight swell of her belly. “It’s alright, my love, it’s alright.”

Though Rey knew it was still too early for the baby to manifest movement, she could feel vibrations from the baby’s force signature; Rey noted the uneasiness recoiling in the baby’s essence, and she knew it was a response to its father’s agitation. Even she could feel the ripple through the Force Bond, an angry vibration of Poe’s anger, resentment, despair at the separation.

Rey had started tallying on the stone wall of the stone hut that she occupied. Back at the base on D’Qar, she’d had a similar habit of counting down the days when Poe was away on a mission, but she was always glad to wipe the chalk lines away on his return. But the marks on the stone she made every night was too similar to the ones she etched on the AT-AT back in Jakku. This waiting was unbearable, but at least she had the baby, Luke, and Jedi training. She decides to see the increasing rows of etched lines as counting the blessing of each day they are safe and alive.

But Poe… from time to time, she feels him tilt and sway in instability. Dare she say that Poe was having a tantrum, throwing random objects within his proximity, his rage a calamity bringing wreckage in its wake? But this was more. The darkness tainting his signature made his goldbright spirit appear like tarnished metal; it raised the hair on her forearms, like the eerie sensation caused when metal is scratched, causing goosebumps and a shiver to crawl down her back. 

It frightens her. Although Poe has always claimed that she’s sunshine, he is her sun, the source and core of her light. So Rey does the only thing she can do: envision hope and let it travel through the invisible thread connecting them.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
Poe feels all kinds of discomfort. Nausea in the mornings, swollen ankles, and kriff, are his nipples sore? And his pecs ache? He swears to the Maker, he’s bloating. Once, in a private debriefing with Leia, Poe shared his symptoms, worried that the emotional toll of their situation was manifesting in physical pains. The Resistance General threw her head back and roared in laughter at the indignant and frowning face of her best pilot.

“Han also suffered like you when I was pregnant.”

Poe’s frown deepens in disbelief and confusion after a long pause. “Are you saying… I’m experiencing Rey’s pregnancy symptoms?”

The amused twinkle in Leia’s eyes was confirmation enough. “The Force works in mysterious ways.”  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
Rey passes the Jedi Trials on her seventh month. With her belly unmistakably round with child, Rey earns the title of Jedi Master.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
One night, Poe is jarred awake by a searing pain in his abdomen, and he just knew: Rey was giving birth. He’d felt small pangs throughout the day and thought nothing of it, but now, now he was certain, Rey’s labor was intensifying, and they would be parents by dawn. 

Poe spent the night in agony, feeling the echoing wisps of Rey’s ordeal in the brink of birthing their child. He tossed and turned, gripping the sheets as he sweat profusely, tormented by guilt for not having found her yet, and anguish in their prolonged separation. 

_I should be by your side. I should be holding your hand. I should be the first one to hold our baby after you..._  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.

On the island, Rey was attended to by five Lanais of the island. Luke was nowhere to be seen; Rey knew he was meditating by the Force tree. A Lanai had given Rey a piece of wood to bite on as she knelt in a tub full of water. The island caretakers had been ecstatic upon seeing Rey to be expecting, skittering and attending to her during her pregnancy. They made sure to bring her ample, healthy food (which was delicious, but Rey wasn’t really picky with food and found very few she disliked), provide her with loose clothing as her belly grew, gift her with baby clothes... The preparation for the birthing done by the caretakers had greatly relieved Rey and Luke with the impending birth.

 _Poe!_ Her mind called out as she rode through another wave of labor pain, her teeth gritting on the wood as an outlet for the pain. Tears streamed down her face, mixing with the salty trails of sweat as she gasped through the bough she was biting on. _I’m scared, I need you…_  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
Knowing that sleep was a lost cause, Poe decided to head out to Rey’s mediation spot outside the base. He crossed his legs and closed his eyes, tapping into the bond that stretched but never broke in the distance between them. His nails dug into his palms as he felt a distant echo of Rey’s labor in his navel. Taking deep breaths, he focused on gathering strength and encouragement and channeled those feelings into their link. Sweat bloomed his brow, ran down his temples; the uneasiness reached a crescendo, but Poe held on, and kept projecting reassurance and support and love and hope to Rey as she began to push.

Poe knew the moment their baby finally made it into the world, finally taking in their first breath of oxygen into their lungs, because he felt a pure Force signature rushing through Rey’s senses that leaked through to him. Tears of joy escaped from Poe’s closed lids and he gasped a breath of relief, a prayer of gratitude to the Force for his healthy wife and their healthy baby boy.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
The labor and the birthing had sapped her of her strength, and after the first feeding, Rey went to sleep with her baby. Waking up on the demanding cry of hunger, Rey heard that voiceless whisper in her head, and she smiled at the name Poe had given their son.

“Leo,” Placing a gentle kiss on the newborn’s brow, Rey was beaming as she informed Luke of her son’s name. “Short for Eleodoro.”

“Gift from the sun, indeed.” Luke was smiling as he nodded his head. “A very regal name.”

“His father named him.”  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
Rey begins a new tally on a different side of the stone wall of her humble abode with baby Leo: the first line marked the day of Leo’s birth, and she had clearly written it down. Both she and Luke have lost count of the days of their exile, and they’re not sure what standard day it is.

When this inexplicable urge to hum during the afternoon and at night echoes in his mind, Poe knows Rey is lulling their son for naptime. Those moments are a reprieve from his despondency, but when the moment passes, regret hangs heavily in his chest at those lost moments he has not yet had with his son.

The song Rey hums when she puts Leo to sleep is one she learned from Poe: his mother’s lullaby. During downtime, in the privacy of their shared bed with the warmth of their bodies rejecting the blanket, Poe’s chest rumbling from the sweet humming of the lullaby is a treasured memory for Rey. Now mother and son both share love for that gesture. When Rey sings the lullaby, she can briefly feel her beloved’s presence like a mist of comfort.

Sometimes, in the stillness of his somnolence, Poe can smell the angelic, baby scent of his son as it is pressed against Rey’s nose. He can feel the ghost of the soft skin of his son’s forehead on his lips when Rey kisses the boy goodnight, and he can faintly catch the soft humming of Shara’s lullaby as she lulls their son to sleep. 

Poe swears they’ll be reunited. _Soon, Rey, soon._ He can’t live off on these phantom moments with his wife and child forever. It leaves a hollow ache inside him, and it feels like everything good in his life has been carved out, stolen from him; it leaves him feeling deprived. It’s like basking in the sunshine inside a cell; he can’t get out to actually be under the sun and enjoy the day, not when he’s trapped in a dank dungeon with shadows and cold surrounding him, the sunlight cast on the floor through the window unreachable with the tips of his fingers.

When Leo is five months old, Rey crafts a small toy for him: a makeshift Starfighter Pilot doll, much like the one she treasured back in Jakku, fashioned in the recognizable orange hue of the Resistance pilot uniform. “That’s Daddy,” Rey repeatedly tells the boy. “Daddy’s a strong, handsome, brave pilot…” For bedtime stories, Rey talks about Poe and his heroics, and his little quirks and all the things Rey loves about her husband. 

When Rey and Luke are training, Leo plays by the gnarled roots of the Force Tree, watched over by three Lanais. It is no small joy for Rey that Leo is growing up under the shade of a Force Tree, just like his daddy.

“The Force is strong with him,” Luke tells her, but she already knows that, even when the child was still in her womb.

“He will be the one to make that choice when he is older,” Was Rey’s answer to the underlying, unspoken question in Luke’s earlier statement. Leo Dameron can choose whether he wants to be a Jedi, a pilot, a senator, a mechanic, or a farmer, in the right time. Rey will not impose upon her and Poe’s son the fate of the Jedi. When she and Poe had found out she was pregnant, this was the first discussion they had as parents later that night as they laid in bed. Their baby did not need to follow in his parents’ paths, but if he should choose to pursue other fields of expertise, then they would wholeheartedly support him, granted that it did not mean allying himself to the Dark Side.

Luke is often left wondering if the Force brought Poe and Rey together to commission this child, this child with a Force signature bright and pure, sacred and precious.

Luke finds himself starting to believe that there is hope yet for the galaxy.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
The search for leads to the First Jedi Temple never ceased for Poe, but when a particular tip led him to Lor San Tekka in a nondescript village on Jakku, Poe knew the Force was at last bringing him a step closer to Rey and their son. This would not be another dead end; finally the Force deemed that it was time they would be reunited.

“This will begin to make things right.” 

“Because of you, now we have a chance.” Poe hasn’t felt hope like this in a long time, and it feels as if he just needs to reach out a little more and he’ll be able to feel Rey’s hand in his once more; it’s been too long. “The General and I have been after this for a long time.”

But damn it all, when he thought everything would be smooth sailing from here on out, he was wrong. The First Order found them, and Poe knew he was on the right track, but so were those evil bastards.

“I had no idea we had the best pilot in the Resistance onboard.” 

Kylo Ren’s voice reminds Poe of a growl, but he does not cower even with the injuries he sustained from the interrogation. Even in restraints, bleeding and beaten, Poe finds the gall to taunt Snoke’s apprentice. The fight and fire in Poe is not diminished despite the torture.

However, when Kylo Ren uses the Force to probe his mind, Poe finds this interrogation much more invasive and violent that the previous tactics that had been applied to him earlier; the physical beatings had weakened him.

“The Resistance… will not be intimidated by you.”

Kylo Ren repeats his question, but Poe is adamant that they will not be able to extract that information even over his dead body. Even if it means he will never be able to see or hold his son, Poe would much rather sacrifice his life than give Kylo Ren the chance to lay a finger on his boy and corrupt him to the Dark Side as he got rid of Rey and Luke.

The ensuing probe from the Force causes Poe to scream out; the greater the resistance to the intrusion of the Force in his psyche, the greater the pain Kylo Ren inflicted. He sees the black-gloved hand in front of his face, but the Sith’s fingers seem to be penetrating through his scalp, skull, and brain matter, twisting and prodding, sifting through intangible sights and memories to extract the sought-after information. It _hurts_ , as if his cells are imploding from the intrusion. 

The toddler’s hysterical, fearful scream snaps Luke into attention. “Leo! Rey!” He shouts in alarm as he spots his apprentice suddenly gasp, holding a hand to the side of her head and collapsing on the grass at the same as the child’s outburst. 

Leo’s hysterical bawling brings Rey back to consciousness. Luke is beside her, frowning in worry. 

“It’s Poe, isn’t it?” Luke felt a disturbing vibration as well, and knew the source and the cause as familiar signatures. But Rey had a better Bond with Poe, and Luke surmised the boy had felt it too. 

Rey rose shakily to take Leo from Luke’s arms, hoping to ease the child’s crying and also find comfort for herself. His mother’s embrace does bring relief; his weeping tones down into sniffles as Rey rubbed his back and caressed the back of his head.

When she has finally coaxed Leo into an uneasy nap, Rey meets with Luke outside the stone hut that serves as her and Leo’s living quarters. “Kylo Ren has Poe.”

Because she is stranded here with no way to reach Poe and save him, black strings of hate, despair, fear begin to manifest in Rey’s Force signature, and Luke shivers from sensing those tendrils as if it were slowly crawling on him as well, like an unbidden chill that will slowly kill if left unchecked. 

“The Force is strong in him,” That is the only consolation Luke can offer, given the uncertainty of the future. “I don’t feel that his time is near.”

The agitation from hopelessness begins to manifest in the way small rocks surrounding them start to shake. The Dark Side of the Force suddenly become heavy fumes that suffocate Luke; if Rey does not find a way, she could fall.

“Do not give in to the Dark Side, Rey,” Luke’s voice is firm but beseeching. “Think of your son. If you surrender to the Dark Side, you bring your son down that path with you, and a worst fate for Poe.”

The weight of the Luke’s words brings Rey to her knees, uncontrollable sobs escaping her throat. “I don’t know what I’d do without Poe, I don’t know how I can continue if he, if he—”

Luke is kneeling beside her in an instant, an arm thrown around her shoulders for comfort. “It is in the darkest moments when we must trust in the Force, Rey. You are strong. We must have faith that Poe will pull through. He will find us.”

She can sense the fear in Luke; he fears there won’t be any turning back for her if she loses Poe, and that darkness will continue to consume her even after she eliminates Kylo Ren to avenge her husband. But Luke has learned his lesson with his nephew; he should not assume, he should be detached but concerned. He can only guide.

“Don’t make his mistake, Rey,” Luke whispers. “Don’t make the same mistake as my father. If you presume the worst, you may be the one to jumpstart the future in that direction. Hold on to hope; Poe is not yet taken from you.”

In an uncharacteristic move, Rey barrels into her mentor, clutching on to him tightly as she weeps and silently prays—begs—to the Force for her beloved’s safety.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
The information has been extracted as Kylo Ren breaks through Poe’s most recent memories. He sees BB-8. He doesn’t see the map, but the knowledge of where the source of the map is, is good enough for Kylo Ren.

Poe wonders if he will die here in the hold of the First Order, without even having seen his son and Rey. He has also failed them; he has inadvertently led Kylo Ren to them. He’d been so concentrated on protecting the secret of Rey and their child that he hadn’t been able to shield his last moment with BB-8. It’s not an exact telling, but now Kylo Ren knows what he needs to look for in order to finally get to Luke Skywalker.

Poe is drowning in his powerlessness, but the waves of his will to protect those he loves keeps his head above this crushing despair.

He has to get out. He still has to see Rey and their baby boy. As long as breath still leaves his body, he will continue to find a way to reunite with his wife and meet his son.

Perhaps he still has the blessing of the Force, because an errant Stormtrooper helps him escape.

To the trooper, he gives the name Finn to replace the man’s identification, a sign of his defection from the First Order. The recognition of the man’s existence as flesh and bone and life and not a faceless, disposable weapon, is an unprecedented kindness Poe bestows unwittingly, and in turn, Poe unknowingly gains the man’s lifelong fealty. 

They head back to Jakku, and Poe wonders at the coincidence; this was Rey’s planet of origin where Luke Skywalker found her. Through the desert terrain and abandoned junk, Poe and Finn manage to find BB-8 and the Millennium Falcon, which later leads them to Han Solo and Chewbacca, who brings them back to the refuge of the Resistance, but not without an encounter with the First Order that leads to a skirmish with the Resistance, the latter hailing victorious in that battle. R2-D2 completes the piece of the map BB-8 has, which indicates the specific location to the elusive First Jedi Temple.

It’s been three years. Three long years he’s been separated from his family. 

Poe embraces Leia, his eyes filled with tears of joy and hope is renewed in his heart.

“Bring them home, Commander,” Leia softly whispers the instruction and it isn’t long before Poe is dashing through the base and back to the hangar. Under Leia’s order and Han’s insistence, Poe takes off in his X-wing with the Millennium Falcon tailing him.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
When the ship was settled in, Poe wasted no time in rushing out of the pilot seat to exit the Falcon. And sure enough, just as the hatch opened to reveal the scenery of Ahch-To, he was greeted with the sight of Rey a short distance away from where he landed his X-wing.

As if the Force was magnetically pulling them together, their feet propelled them into the fastest sprint they could muster to get to each other, as if the seconds that separated them were too much to bear anymore. When they collided into each other’s embrace, both of them were crying already.

No words could fill in the silence of their reunion; the connection between their souls sing and vibrate in celebration of their proximity. They only pulled away for inches so their lips could meet in greeting. 

Poe kissed her long and deep; convincing himself that they were finally together. This is real, not some conjured phantasm in his loneliness and desperation.

The need for air in their lungs finally pulled them away, but Poe cupped Rey’s face in between his large hands, wiping away her tears as their foreheads leaned together. Rey raised trembling fingers to Poe’s jaw, letting the coarse stubble underneath her fingertips to anchor herself in this moment. Even now, with their breaths entwined, they could not find words to speak of the emotions of this moment after years of not being together.

Luke approached the reunited couple, holding the hand of a small little boy cradling a toy that looked similar to the newcomer stranger.

Rey pulled away, wiping away her tears to turn to their son. 

“Come here, darling,” Rey urged the toddler to come closer, which he did with baby steps that he’d just recently gotten the hang of, but not quite. She knelt down, holding Leo steady and close.

Poe reverently knelt down to be at eye level with his son. The toddler’s features are a marvel: he’s his mother’s son through and through, that distinct Force signature, but his son has his curls and his complexion, while the boy’s nose and his eyes are definitely from his mama’s.

“Leo, who is he?” The sweet lilt in Rey’s voice gently coaxed the toddler.

The boy pointed his pilot doll at Poe as he looked to his mother. “Daddy.”

That the boy recognized him even when this was the first time they’d laid eyes on each other. 

“Go on, hug Daddy.”

Overcome by emotion, Poe could no longer hold back as he swept his son into his arms in an all-encompassing hug. Small arms come around his neck; Poe swears his life is complete. He’s crying, all the pain and fear of the past years seeping out of him to be replaced by love and relief and hope.

“Hi, Leo,” Poe presses kisses to his son’s cheek as one hand cradles the back of the toddler’s head, mussing the curls that are so much like his and Shara’s. “I love you so much. You and your mother.” Poe can barely keep coherent with his thoughts as he tightly embraces his son for the first time. Rey joins the family hug as she wraps her around Poe and Leo, kissing the two most important men in her life.

This is the belonging Maz foretold, back when she had just left Jakku to be Skywalker's Jedi apprentice. With her family complete for the first time, she feels ready to go home.

==========

 _ **“You are never alone or helpless. The force that guides the stars guides you too.”**_

-Shrii Shrii Anandamurt

==========

**Author's Note:**

> Just a bit of trivia: Couvade Syndrome is what Poe experiences, just in case anyone was interested in knowing. heheheheXD
> 
> This was the very first Damerey fic idea that popped in my head, and I finally got around to finishing this! It’s been three years since I wrote a fic or dabbled in creative writing, so I’m a bit rusty, and even then, it was for a very different fandom and on ff.net. Pretty excited to be posting for the first time on ao3. XD Anyway, I’m so happy that I finally was able to contribute something to this awesome ship! Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated! ^^,


End file.
